Looks like a cunning way to get more stories about road maggots getting run over

Central Wellington looks set to become more cycle-friendly, with the introduction of the country’s first contra-flow bike lanes.

The lanes allow cyclists to travel against the flow of other traffic on a one-way street. They are planned for Cuba and Willeston streets as part of a plan to improve connections and make it safer and easier to get places in Wellington by bike.

About $1.5 million from the Government and Wellington City Council has been allocated for minor cycle improvements in the CBD while the city awaits the outcome of the Let’s Get Wellington Moving project and any major transport projects that might usher in.

I’m not sure how a cycle lane flowing the opposite of real road users in cars is ever going to end in anything but tears, mayhem, carnage, injury and probably a few deaths. It certainly isn’t at all friendly for cyclists.

It is the sort of thing I would design to ensure less road maggots on the road.

The contra-flow lanes are one of six cycling improvements being proposed, while others are being developed.

Improvement?

Paul Barker, the city council’s network improvement planning manager, said the contra-flow lanes would be placed in areas with low traffic volumes and speed, and could be added without removing parking.

How about not having them at all and letting traffic flow without worrying about a road maggot cycling the wrong way up a road.

This is just nuts, and shows how councils are out of control. The video above shows what happens when you cycle contra to the flow.

-Fairfax

Do you want:

Ad-free access?

Access to our very popular daily crossword?

Access to daily sudoku?

Access to Incite Politics magazine articles?

Access to podcasts?

Access to political polls?

Our subscribers’ financial support is the reason why we have been able to offer our latest service; Audio blogs.

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.